Generally, a wind turbine includes a tower, a nacelle mounted on the tower, and a rotor coupled to the nacelle. The rotor typically includes a rotatable hub and a plurality of rotor blades coupled to and extending outwardly from the hub. Each rotor blade may be spaced about the hub so as to facilitate rotating the rotor to enable kinetic energy to be transferred from the wind into usable mechanical energy, and subsequently, electrical energy.
Transient wind conditions often present challenges for implementing control strategies to maintain the loads acting on wind turbine rotor blades and other wind turbine components at relatively low levels. For example, during extreme wind gusts, the wind speed may increase significantly in a relatively short period of time, leading to a rapid increase in blade loading. This rapid increase initially impacts the outboard portions of the rotor blades (e.g., at the tip) where the blades are more susceptible to increased deflection due to loading, which can result in an increased risk of a tower strike due to excessive tip deflection.
Current control strategies identify transient wind conditions by detecting changes in the rotational speed of the generator. However, due to rotor inertia, changes in generator speed lag behind changes in blade loading. As a result, current control strategies may not be sufficiently responsive in reducing blade loading during extreme transient events.
Accordingly, a system and method for reducing the loads on rotor blades and/or other wind turbine components with improved responsiveness to transient wind conditions would be welcomed in the technology.